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Tips for Photographing Silhouettes

Today’s fun and insightful guest post comes to us from Toronto based wedding photographer Leanne of Drastic Images. Enjoy!

All wedding photographer need to do something creative here and there to keep their clients satisfied and make them want to refer their friends. One way to do that is to under promise and over deliver. Creative silhouettes is one way to do that.

Read the full post after the cut!

Lots Of Backlight

As a niche Toronto wedding photographer, if I can take an amazing silhouette while I am shooting your wedding I will get it done right. Most of the silhouettes I do are outdoor utilizing natural sunlight. However I also know how to control my light and do some indoors too. Believe it or not the picture

above was taken at the head table of my client’s wedding. I used the light that was lighting the curtains as the background. As you continue to read I will reveal the trick to taking a perfect silhouette.

F22!

Seriously F22 is all you need to remember to achieve an amazing silhouette with a clean white background. If you have a sharp 12 noon sun coming at you set your aperture to twenty two. I am also a same sex wedding photographer. When I took this silhouette of this couple I was on the 10th floor of a condo standing near the window. Thats right this one was indoor too. Focus On The Sun Normally you would focus on the subject, in this scenario it’s this couple. However when you are trying to create a silhouette you need to set your camera to focus on the light. Sometimes I just tell my couples to put there for foreheads together. This time I had them stare into each other eyes and get close but not touch. Click! I got the shot.

Focus On The Sun

Normally you would focus on the subject, in this scenario it’s this couple. However when you are trying to create a silhouette you need to set your camera to focus on the light. Sometimes I just tell my couples to put there for foreheads together. This time I had them stare into each other eyes and get close but not touch. Click! I got the shot.

Add More Elements

Now that you know the basics, add more creativity and elements to it. I took this one during an engagement photography session in Toronto at High Park. Without using a filter I included the clouds, turned my camera on a slant to add drama and … well I’m also laying on the floor (like always) to capture them at a lower angle.

Now that you’ve learned a few tricks to make your client super happy with your tasteful silhouettes you can start implementing them for your weddings, engagements and couples shoot. Just remember, your going to need lots of backlight, set your aperture to F22, focus on the sun, add more elements once you get the hang of it.

Leanne Ferguson is a Toronto based professional photographer and owner of Drastic Images. With almost 10 years of experience her couples are known to crowd surf, jump, spin and dance during wedding shoots.